Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

August 10, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Borders Classics, 2008. Originally published 1814. 384 pgs. Purchased. At Mansfield Park, the estate owned by Sir Thomas Bertram, his four children grow to marrying age along with their poorer cousin Fanny Price. All have been brought up to observe social proprieties but not necessarily moral ones. When Sir Thomas leaves to see after some business interests, the deficiencies in his children’s upbringing reveal themselves and chaos ensues. Only Fanny stands firm and the girl once see […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, AP Literature, Classics, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

October 29, 2011 by Christina

Fiction — eBook. Project Gutenberg, 2010. Originally published 1818. 276 pgs. Free download. According to the introduction in my copy written by the author herself, Northanger Abbey was sold to a publisher in 1803 but languished there until Austen bought it back in 1816. The first edition was published in 1818. I actually had no plans to read this particular book by Austen any time soon. Gothic literature is apparently not my thing. (I tried reading two different books for […]

Categories: 2011 Reads, Austen Inspired, Classics, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

May 15, 2011 by Christina

Fiction — eBook. Project Gutenberg, 2010. Originally published 1815. 731  pgs. Free download. Before Austen began the novel, she wrote “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. Emma Woodhouse is introduced as “handsome, clever, and rich” in the first sentence of the novel. She is also incredibly naive when it comes to understanding the meanings of others’ actions, affairs of the heart, and blindness to social standing. Emma, raised to think well […]

Categories: 2011 Reads, AP Literature, Austen Inspired, Classics, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

January 5, 2010 by Christina

Fiction — print. Borders Classics, 2006. Originally published 1811. 297 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Austen’s first published novel follows the eldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, in the trials and tribulations of love. Marianne, who is mostly sensibility, delights in being honest, impulsive, and wearing her heart on her sleeves while her elder sister, Elinor, is all sense. Yet having a level head cannot stop Elinor from falling for Edward Ferrars; only to later find out that he has been […]

Categories: 2010 Reads, Classics, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

May 20, 2009 by Christina

After reading quite a few sequels and spinoffs, I needed to return to the original and clean my brain out off all the plaque that comes from reading poorly written sequels. Pride and Prejudice, once again, didn’t disappoint. I’m sure you’ve already heard the story before; the five Bennet sisters – Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia – all attempt to find a husband under the ever annoying encouragement of their mother. Elizabeth suitors include her cousin, William Collins, but […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2009 Reads, AP Literature, Austen Inspired, Classics, Europe, Fiction, Reread, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

January 26, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Knopf, 1992. First published 1817. 260 pgs. Library copy. Anne Elliot, daughter of the snobbish, spend-thrift Sir Walter Elliot, is a woman of quiet charm and deep feelings. When she was nineteen, she fell in love with – and was engaged to – a naval officer, the fearless and headstrong Captain Wentworth. But the young man had no fortune, and Anne allowed herself to be persuaded, against her profoundest instinct, to give him up. Now, at twenty-seven, […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, AP Literature, Classics, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Jane Austen